2021-04
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April 2021

Jazz April 2021: a month filled with such good releases, it feels like a year!

You will find here our selection of the 10 jazz albums released this month that got our full attention.
Listen to and follow our Spotify playlistBest of Jazz – year 2021 (so far)‘ to discover all the following sounds.

New Jazz Releases April 2021

Jazz April 2021 – Selection:

Myele Manzanza - Crisis & Opportunity Vol. 1 - London

Myele Manzanza

Crisis & Opportunity Vol. 1 – London
(DeepMatter)

The singles were promising; the album is definitely delivering. We just need to discover how many volumes Myele Manzanza is planning on releasing. With this quality, we could just hope for one per capital!

“Weaving his unique blend of forward-thinking genre-bending jazz, broken beat, electronica, and world music, Manzanza drives Crisis & Opportunity through a set of original compositions inspired by the city of London which he now calls home.”
Bandcamp

Myele Manzanza: drums; Ashley Henry: piano; James Copus: trumpet; George Crowley: tenor saxophone; Benjamin Muralt: bass; Mark de Clive-Lowe: Synths
Release date April 2, 2021


Jason-Moran-Milford-Graves-Live-at-Big-Ears

Jason Moran, Milford Graves

Live at Big Ears
(Yes Records)

Recorded live in 2018 a more than perfect piece of piano/drum duo, with an incredible sound, by incredible artists. Sadly, Milton Graves died last February (2021.02.12).

Milford Graves: drums & vocals; Jason Moran: piano
Release date April 2, 2021


Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey - Uneasy

Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey

Uneasy
(ECM Records)

Full album review here: Vijay IyerUneasy

Vijay Iyer: piano; Linda May Han Oh: double bass; Tyshawn Sorey: drums
Release date April 9, 2021


Damon Locks, Black Monument Ensemble - NOW

Damon Locks, Black Monument Ensemble

NOW
(International Anthem)

“This is a document of the moment… As the old world falls, we lose a lot but we gain the opportunity to create anew… We can spark something now. The new is possible.”
Damon Locks

Damon Locks: samples & electronics; Angel Bat Dawid: clarinet; Ben LaMar Gay: cornet & melodica; Dana Hall: drums; Arif Smith: percussion; Phillip Armstrong, Monique Golding, Tramaine Parker, Richie Parks, Erica Rene, Eric Tre’von: singers.
Release date April 9, 2021


Steven Feifke Big Band - Kinetic

Steven Feifke Big Band

Kinetic
(Outside in Music)

Full album review here: Steven Feifke Big Band Kinetic

Steven Feifke: piano; Andrew Gould: saxophone; Alexa Tarantino: saxophone, alto; Lucas Pino: clarinet, bass; Sam Dillon: saxophone, tenor; Andrew Gutauskas: saxophone, baritone; Max Darché: trumpet; John Lake: trumpet; Benny Benack III: trumpet; Gabriel King Medd: trumpet; Robert Edwards: trombone; Jeffery Miller: trombone; Armando Vergara: trombone; Jennifer Wharton: trombone; Alex Wintz: guitar; Dan Chmielinski: bass; Ulysses Owens, Jr.: drums
Release date April 9, 2021


Irène Schweizer, Hamid Drake - Celebration

Irène Schweizer, Hamid Drake

Celebration
(Intakt Records)

Full album review here: Irène Schweizer, Hamid DrakeCelebration

Irène Schweizer: Piano; Hamid Drake: Drums
Release date April 16, 2021


Natural-Information-Society-with-Evan-Parker-descension

Natural Information Society with Evan Parker

descension (Out of Our Constrictions)
(Eremite Records)

Full album review here: Natural Information Society with Evan Parkerdescension

Joshua Abrams: guimbri; Lisa Alvarado: harmonium & effects; Mikel Patrick Avery: drums; Evan Parker: soprano saxophone; Jason Stein: bass clarinet.
Release date April 16, 2021


Wadada Leo Smith, Douglas R. Ewart, Mike Reed - Sun Beans of Shimmering Light

Wadada Leo Smith, Douglas R. Ewart, Mike Reed

Sun Beans of Shimmering Light
(Astral Spirits)

Recorded 6 years ago, wonderful improvised live music by three members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet; Douglas Ewart: bassoon; Mike Reed: drums.
Release date April 16, 2021


Koma Saxo - LIVE

Koma Saxo

LIVE
(We Jazz Records)

“But the way his jacked-up bass lines and Lillinger’s impossibly peripatetic, stuttering rhythms buffeted the massed saxophones elevated Koma Saxo to plane all its own, and I repeatedly returned to that place—half the time trying to figure out what the hell Eldh had done, and the other half lost in giddy ecstasy.”
Peter Margasak

Petter Eldh: bass; Otis Sandsjö: tenor sax; Jonas Kullhammar: tenor sax; Mikko Innanen: alto & baritone sax; Christian Lillinger: drums.
Release date April 30, 2021


Michael-Wollny-XXXX

Michael Wollny, Emile Parisien, Tim Lefebvre, Christian Lillinger

XXXX
(ACT)

XXXX for eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate – full explanations here.

“Four greats of jazz & beyond join for a week of collective, entirely free improvisation, later to be transformed into a radical, intense, exciting recording of truly new music.”
— ACT

Michael Wollny: synthesizer, rhodes & piano; Emile Parisien: soprano saxophone; Tim Lefebvre: electric bass & electronics; Christian Lillinger: drums & percussion
Release date April 30, 2021


Albums List

+ 2 reviews:

Playlist

Listen to those tracks on our Spotify playlist “2021 (so far”).

2021

Discover the Best of Jazz – Year 2021 full post.


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